Q: If gravity is the reaction matter has on space, in that it warps space, why do physicist’s look for a gravity particle? Wouldn’t gravity be just a bi-product of what matter does to space?

The name “quantum mechanics” comes from the fact that, at its most base, quantum mechanics requires all particles and energies to come in discrete (one might say “quantized”) packets. At some point a bunch of physicists starting asking awkward questions like; the matter is quantized, the energy is exchanged in quantized packets, so why do we assume the force is smooth and continuous?

Compounding this awkward line of questioning was the fact that photons were already known to carry electromagnetic force. Literally, photons are little oscillating bits of electric and magnetic fields, which is exactly what the electric and magnetic forces are. So the next obvious question was “do the other forces have ‘force carriers‘?”

You’re damn right they do. Photons for electromagnetism, W and Z bosons for the nuclear weak force, and gluons for the nuclear strong force. There’s every force but gravity! Each of the carriers were predicted by the (then new) study of “quantum field theory”, and have since been observed. The theory itself is gorgeous and works beautifully. In fact, it barely makes sense to think of anything in the universe (including space) as not being quantized.

So, some physicists are looking for evidence of the existence of gravitons (the gravity particle), because it would really tie things together nicely. There are a couple drawbacks however… In order for something to be detected it has to do something. Gravity is a really, really weak force, and a graviton is the smallest amount of that force that can exist. Most physicists have already given up any hope of detecting the graviton directly, and instead are looking at extremely indirect methods. The drawback there is that the graviton (if it exists, and if our theories hold up) is a very strange particle, and is described using amazingly nasty math (even more nasty than the normally nasty math of quantum field theory). So it’s difficult to even figure out what those indirect methods should be.

To actually answer the question: some physicists are looking for the graviton because it “fits”.

7 Responses to Q: If gravity is the reaction matter has on space, in that it warps space, why do physicist’s look for a gravity particle? Wouldn’t gravity be just a bi-product of what matter does to space?

Just discovered this site and I absolutely adore it! Just a short follow-up on this one: do we NEED theoretically to find a graviton? That is: (I know I’d be nice to have all “forces” following the same quantum field logic, but) is our present “geometrical” understanding of gravity not enough to understand observed phenomena? Could gravity be not a force but JUST a result of the geometry of spacetime?

Maybe?
There’s a problem in physics that stems from the fact that that approach (gravity = geometry) seem to work perfectly for everything we do in general relativity. But at the same time, it causes problems when quantum mechanics enters the picture. Basically, one or the other or both need to change.

If the Graviton existed, wouldn’t it have to radiate from all matter? If it was a particle of determinate size, which could be quantized, wouldn’t the physical SIZE of an object affect how gravity works on it?

P.S.
I’m sorry for posting on everything, you’re probably sick of me by now

We know that where there is Mass there is gravity. The assumption is that gravity is created by Mass but has anyone considered that maybe gravity only exists where there is no mass. Almost like a positive air pressure shooting to a lower pressure area gravitons are propelled towards mass, striking all matter in the way actually pushing it. We generally assume that gravity ‘pulls’ us towards Mass. Maybe gravitons will never be detected on Earth because in such close proximity to such a large mass they are very sparse.. Maybe we are looking in the wrong place. Deep space maybe? Does anyone have any information on the experiments that have taken place thus far in search of the graviton? I am very interested in this subject and if anyone could point me in the right direction that would be greatly appreciated.

gravitons… heh, i remember the last time i thought they existed. fell out of relevance with most alternate theories i’ve read into. basically gravitons seem obsolete…

once we have established a natural symmetry between acceleration and gravitation, to justify the need for a new particle for gravity is near impossible without making predictions about how acceleration should differ from gravitation. and if it doesn’t make a prediction about expected differences, it should predict gravitons’ behavior identically under acceleration. to my knowledge this is not the case; gravitons have been confined to gravitation.

this disconnect between relativity and QM with ‘a particle for every force’ is further exemplified by gravitational (and accelerational) time dilation:
would gravitons be affected by gravitational time dilation or would gravitons cause gravitational time dilation?
(assuming acceleration != gravity) would gravitons in an accelerated frame of reference introduce a new type of force or time dilation?

as i mentioned on another article yesterday, to me it is becoming more and more likely that answering what role time plays in acceleration under relativity will reveal more about gravity than anything else – there are demonstrable holes in QM and relativity where the two are supposed to overlap, and most if not all involve time varying or behaving strangely.

I know the force carrier of Electromagnetism is effected by Gravity as light can get bent by gravitational fields and because light can’t escape a black hole. I was wondering would Gravitons be effected by Gravity as well or would Gravitons be unaffected by Gravity? Could Gravitons be used to study the inside of a black hole?